Impossible
by SerendipityV2.5
Summary: A series of One Shots, Banters, and Other Things that Spring to Mind, taking a journey through Naruto as the titular ninja does (what else would it be?) the impossible, the improbable, and the incredibly unlikely. Chronological, mild tweaking of dialogue and thoughts to better fit with later canon.


Impossible

A series of One Shots, Banters, and Other Things that Spring to Mind, taking a journey through Naruto as the titular ninja does (what else would it be?) the impossible, the improbable, and the incredibly unlikely. Chronological, mild tweaking of dialogue and thoughts to better fit with later canon.

AN: So, I changed some things up, both to account for some Early Installment Weirdness, and to make the dialogue a tiny bit less... dramatic. But I think it still works pretty well, since a lot of it is the same. But I definitely need a beta. It would have made this so much easier. Regardless- hope you enjoy!

Chapter One: A Thousand of One

**Iruka**

I remember the day when I first saw Naruto do the impossible. Though, it's now something he does everyday. So I suppose at the time it was just impossible to believe.

Heh. "Believe."

It never fails to amuse (and in some ways, alarm) me nowadays how people seem to have forgotten how Naruto used to act. And how the Village looked at him. I don't know if it is just in this village's nature to have a short memory, or if it's Naruto themselves that has made them forget.

Personally, as a teacher, I think it's the children's fault. It started with Konohamaru. He was the first of Naruto's "fans". His eternal rival, I think he called himself. Though he also called Naruto his boss, so make of that what you will. He was always following him around, begging him to play Ninja, asking him for tips and techniques. That in itself is not that unusual- it's hard to find an academy student that doesn't look up to the Genin who made it through. A lot of them are around the same age, and so they think they're not to different. And they're usually right. It's a rare Genin that couldn't be mistaken for an academy student: Sasuke Uchiha was the first I'd seen in a while. And that was just because of his eyes. No, not the Sharingan. He didn't have that yet. Though the promise of a powerful Dojutsu probably helped. It was just the way he looked at things. Like they were rocks in the road, and he was going to kick them out of the way.

The _difference_ between Naruto's relationship with Konohamaru and the normal admiration that academy students gave graduates, however, was that Naruto actually reciprocated. I can't stress how rare that was. Children have a capacity to be the cruelest and most excluding of people, no matter what parents tell you, and a lot of Genin think they don't have anything to do with the Academy once they graduate. After they leave, they tend to just ignore the kids still in there.

Like I ignored Naruto, at first.

The _difference_ was that Naruto actually talked to Konohamaru. He played with him, he taught him, and especially after the disaster that was the 14th Konohagakure Chūnin exams, he bonded with him over his grandfather- and the position that the Sandaime had held. It was their own little competition: who would become Hokage first. Silly, a lot of us thought. Shows what we knew.

So, like I said, it was Konohamaru that started to see that Naruto wasn't just a near dropout, a _dobe_ who'd just barely scraped through. I don't know what Naruto did or said to make him see it- perhaps I'll ask someday. All I know is that for the first time in my life, I was hearing positive things said about Naruto. And it was in my own class.

It was little things at first. "Oh, did you see the Jutsu that Konohamaru has? He says he took out his grandfather with it! And that _Naruto_ taught it to him!" "Hey, did you here that Naruto killed a missing-nin over in the Land of Waves?" They got eased into the idea of Naruto being a respectable ninja, regardless of what their parents said. And they must have eased their parents into it too.

It was especially after the Chūnin exams though. Then everything really took off.

Hmm...

I'm sorry. I suppose I got off track. I was going to tell you about the first time I saw Naruto do something that was impossible, and that reminded me about how we all used to see him...

(cough)

Anyway. It was graduation day. For perhaps the most famous class I've ever taught. Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, Choji Akimichi, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara, Kiba Inuzaka, Ino Yamanaka... there were a lot of future elites in that class. And Sasuke Uchiha, of course. Of course, then they were just children. Some people knew, though, that that class was special. Kakashi Hatake, the Copy-Nin himself, decided to teach a Genin team for the first time in three years because of that class.

But here's something a lot of people don't know. Naruto didn't graduate that day. He failed the exam. Barely scraped through on the written test, almost skewered me at the weapons range, and when it came to the academy Jutsu practical, his _bunshin_ looked like a balloon full of pudding. It was probably the worst I've ever seen.

So, I failed him. Enthusiastically. No doubt you're thinking now, "How could you fail the Village's hero like that?!" But the truth was, he wasn't ready then. He wouldn't have survived a single C rank with the skills he had. The first true ninja he came across would have gutted him like a fish, Kyuubi or not.

It broke him a little, I saw. He'd joined the Academy early, training with people a year or two above him, with the permission of the Hokage. He didn't have any guardians to forbid him, after all. But that didn't help him. This was the third final exam he had failed. Barring special permission, you're not allowed to take a fourth. I'm sure he could have gotten one from the Hokage, but he didn't know that. So after school, he just sat there on a lone swing out in the playground, just watching the other kids with their families. I don't know where he went after that.

The next I heard, he had stolen the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage's personal library. Naturally, just about every Chūnin in the village was mobilized to search for him, while Jonin secured the borders. There was no way we could let a resource like that, filled with dangerous and experimental Kinjutsu, leave the Village.

As I sped through across the rooftops, I thought about places where Naruto usually went to hide: I'd figured most of them out from all the time's he and Shikamaru had tried to skip class. I went to the most obvious one, which was also the closest to the boundaries of the Village proper: the seventh kunai practice range.

Naruto was there, of course.

It's a good thing that I was the first one there. I think a couple other Chūnin would simply have struck first and recovered the scroll, regardless of Naruto's reasons for taking it. I wasn't the only one whose family had been killed by the Nine-Tails all those years ago.

So, when I found him, he was just sitting in the grass under the shade of a tree, the scroll strapped to his back. He was exhausted, panting like he'd just run... well, it would have to be really far. I've never seen Naruto get tired just because of running. But when he heard me land, he looked up at me. And he didn't freeze, or run away, or come up with a stupid lie to try to explain himself, which is what Naruto _always_ does when you catch him doing something, which is a pity for him because he's a terrible liar. He just looked up at me, and let loose a positively blinding smile. The kind of smile that made me realize, years before, that he was _not_ in fact a demon masquerading as a child, biding its time so that it could kill us all in our sleep.

I don't remember exactly how the conversation went, but it was something like this.

(Imitating a loud, somewhat squeaky yell)

"Iruka-sensei!"

"Naruto-"

"Iruka-sensei, I did it! I-

"Naruto everyone's been looking for-"

"-mastered one of the Jutsu's! Now I can graduate, right? I can get my hitai-ate!"

When I heard that, I thought that _that_ was his dumb lie. Mastered one of the Jutsu's in the Forbidden Scroll? The student who couldn't even create a _bunshin_, who's chakra control was about as hopeless as smashing a glass pane with a hammer and hoping that the pieces fell into a perfect picture of the Hokage Monument? Impossible. He must be lying. But that wasn't what truly concerned me. What did concern me was that Naruto apparently thought he could graduate if he _stole_ from the Hokage.

"Naruto, who told you that?"

"What?"

"That you had to master a Jutsu from the scroll?"

"Mizuki-sensei, of course. Didn't he tell you about the super secret graduation mission?"

I realized at that moment what had happened. We'd been played. Mizuki had betrayed the Village, and used Naruto as a catspaw to retrieve something of value before he left. No one would question Naruto having stolen the Scroll- that was just the way he was seen. A troublemaker, a thief, and generally a fiend. Then, he had Naruto try to master a Jutsu from the scroll, which would keep him around long enough for Mizuki to find him. It was actually a pretty good plan. Only three things went wrong with it. The first was that I knew where Naruto usually hid, so I'd found him just moments before Mizuki had. The second was something none of us had seen coming: that Naruto actually _would_ master a Jutsu from the Scroll.

The third problem was that Mizuki explained the entire plan to Naruto and I as soon as he showed up. Though I'll admit, he at least had the sense to do so after trying to kill Naruto and pinning me to the target board with a couple kunai. I'm sure he found that hilarious. Mizuki always had a strange sense of humor.

The kind of humor that made him try to convince Naruto that _I_ was lying to him. That I was trying to steal the scroll for myself. But even back then, Naruto wasn't that stupid, especially not after I'd just pushed him out of the way of a couple kunai and taken them myself.

I didn't mention that? I could have sworn I had. Sorry. It wasn't an issue. My vest stopped most of them.

Mizuki wasn't finished, though. After that, he pulled out the ultimate secret.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune. And the identity of its jailor: Naruto, of course. But what Mizuki said was worse, in just about every way. He said that Naruto WAS the Nine-Tails. That HE had been the one who had nearly destroyed the Village, and killed my parents.

I don't know why exactly Mizuki did it, or why he said it that way. It's entirely possible that Mizuki didn't understand what a Jinchuuriki really was. Not many do, beyond the fact that it's a person that has a demon in them. I didn't myself until Naruto explained it to me one day. As to why, Mizuki probably hoped to turn Naruto against me, against the village, for lying to him.

He obviously didn't know Naruto very well at all.

What followed, at the time, seemed extremely dangerous. Make no mistake; it was a life or death struggle. I had to protect a student from a skilled shuriken master who desperately wanted both of us dead. But looking back, it wasn't much of a fight. We were both rather handicapped. Mizuki was traveling light, so that he could carry the Scroll with ease and not be slowed when escaping the Village, which meant that he didn't have his normal assortment of weapon scrolls, swords, or wreaths of shuriken. But I had to protect a slow and terrified target.

I took a Fuuma Shuriken in the back near the beginning of the fight. I didn't have a choice: Mizuki had thrown it right at Naruto as he tripped backwards over his own feet-

Hey, don't laugh. He was twelve. No one had ever tried to actually _kill_ him before.

I didn't and don't regret it, but in case you haven't seen one in action, Fuuma are _big, _and they hurt just as much as they are large. This one came within a centimeter or two of breaking my spine. I was lucky that I knew a little medical jutsu, else I would have bled out before the end of everything. My upper back still aches after exercise, though. Not enough to slow me down, but I notice it.

While he cowered beneath me, and Mizuki watched, laughing his head off, I told Naruto that he wasn't the Fox. And that he and I were the same, that I understood. I knew what he went through. I was an orphan too, after all.

I don't know if it was the shock of recent revelations, or if what Mizuki had said had actually gotten to him, but Naruto took off before I could say anything more.

Mizuki chased him, and I chased Mizuki. And managed to ambush the traitor with a rudimentary transformation. I turned myself into Naruto, and when Mizuki (who himself had transformed into a copy of me) caught up, I tried my damnedest to kick his windpipe in.

I'd like all of you to remember that. No, don't roll your eyes. I am a teacher after all. Academy basics can turn any battle. I can't tell you how many times a quick _Kawarimi_ has saved my life. A lot of high-level ninjas consider stuff like that beneath them, but just remember: sometimes simple really is better. It certainly gave me one of my better memories.

Mizuki coughed out through a bruised throat, "How did you know, Naruto, that it was me?"

And I said back, "Because _I'm_ Iruka." I'm proud of that. Sounded cool.

Anyway...

After that, I was spent. But Naruto had gotten away. Or so I thought. He would take his tale back into the Village, and the Hokage would hear it. Everything would turn out all right.

Except that I would be dead, as Mizuki delighted in telling me. And that if he didn't kill me, that Naruto, that "Beast", certainly would.

Well, I took offense to that. Naruto was my student. He was a good kid who was desperate for attention, definitely not the pure manifestation of malevolent chakra in the form of an enormous fox. I told Mizuki so. I told him that the so-called "Beast" was Naruto Uzumaki, of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He laughed at that.

How could I have known that Naruto was hiding nearby? That he would hear me defend him? How could I know that those words would have such a dramatic effect on him?

I couldn't have. But the results were... well, you heard what I said before.

Impossible.

Mizuki charged at me, his last Fuuma spinning. But something intercepted him.

Something orange.

I don't have to tell you it was Naruto. I know that that doesn't surprise you. This _is_ a story about him. But consider this: how many times have you seen an academy student, one who was at the bottom of every class, plant his knee in an experienced Chūnin's face? It's not something you forget, and it still brings a smile to my face. Mizuki went flying, and Naruto was right behind him. Mizuki didn't stay down, of course. But when he got back to his feet, Naruto was waiting there for him. And the _dobe_, the dead-last, hopeless, bright orange prankster said, no, snarled_, _in a voice that I'd _never_ heard from him, "If you lay a hand on my sensei, I'll kill you." I can't really tell you the emotion that was in that statement. The _meaning _of that statement. You had to have been there. To see Naruto so focused, so _dangerous_, and radiating so much killer intent... it was stunning.

Mizuki was an arrogant bastard. It's partly why he never made it beyond chunin, despite his skill with shuriken. He refused to acknowledge that someone so young could possibly be a threat. In any other case, he'd likely be right. He yelled at the kid, "Not bad, for a little punk! But I can destroy you in a single hit!"

And Naruto just put his hands into something that could have been an Ox seal if you squinted really hard, and screamed at him, "Then I'll pay it back to you a thousand fold!"

That was when the impossible happened.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_"

There was a popping noise; an enormous puff of smoke, and then the forest was filled with Naruto. Orange jumpsuits everywhere. Rows and rows of them. In the tree, on the ground, some crouched atop others; they completely surrounded Mizuki.

None of them were pale imitations. All of them were very vibrant, and very, very solid.

When you create a shadow clone, both you and the clone end up with an equal amount of chakra. It's what makes it such a potent technique, since each of the clones has enough chakra to receive direction from the user, and utilize his (or her) other skills. It also makes it very dangerous; the reason it's a Kinjutsu is because it is frighteningly easy to create too many clones and die of chakra exhaustion before you even realize that you've overdone it. Most Jonin can safely make about thirty on a good day, and so can some more accomplished Chūnin. But for those who know it, it's commonly assumed that it's not practical to make more than five before you're too weakened for them to be effective.

Naruto made _hundreds_ of shadow clones. A thousand, even. He should have been _dead_. Instead, he just sat there with that unbelievable grin. Not the kind that the Village usually saw either, the one he put up when he was hurt or lonely but he would be _damned_ if was going to let anyone know that they had gotten to him. This was the kind of smile he smiled when Hinata kissed him for the first time.

He wasn't even winded.

"_Amazing"_, I thought.

Mizuki clearly didn't feel the same way. All of his confidence was gone. The bravado, gone. The taunting, gone. He just sat there, sputtering. "What is this!? What are you!?"

Naruto didn't respond. He just laughed, and taunted. As one. All the clones were in on it. And though I will always hold Naruto in high regard, I will say that it was pretty damn creepy.

"What's wrong, Mizuki-sensei? Aren't you gonna destroy me?" A thousand soon-to-be-Genin said at the same time. Naruto is loud by himself. I'd say that Kiba is maybe the only one who can match him for sheer volume. But a thousand of him speaking at the same time?

Ow.

When Mizuki just gibbered something unintelligible in response, all the Naruto's sighed at once. It sounded like a gale force wind hitting the trees. "Ah, well. If you won't come to us-" and they all let loose that blinding grin again, "we'll come to you!"

And as an orange tide, they all leapt forward.

Mizuki screamed and thrashed. But when a thousand ninja come for you at once, there isn't much someone like Mizuki could do, even if all those ninja fight like a drunken brawler chasing his sister's latest boyfriend. He took out a couple, though, just through wild punches and kicks. I think he may even have bitten one out of existence. It was hard to see under the pile of Naruto's.

When the dust settled, Mizuki was quivering on the ground, beaten to within an inch of his life, all of the clones were gone, and Naruto stood in front of me, rubbing the back of his head and giving me a relatively small grin (which, if you know Naruto, means it only took up a third of his face).

"Whoops." he said.

"I think I overdid it."


End file.
